So you give your kids an allowance and you want them to learn how to budget their money.  How do you encourage them to save some for a rainy day without coming out like a tyrant?  How do you make it seem like a good idea is a world that is filled with instant gratification?

One of the things that I noticed with my older children is that they thought I bought everything I wanted, whenever I wanted.  I am not sure where they got this idea from.  Could it be that they think my greatest hearts desire is laundry detergent and peanut butter?

I have been sharing with my children purchases that we chose not buy or things that we are saving for.  We are  in the market for a new vehicle.  I have let them in on the discussion of financing, down payments, and car payments.  And why we will not buy a $50,000 new vehicle.  Notice I didn’t say CAN not.  I think it is important to make the distinction for our children between what they can do and what is the right thing to do.  Helllllloooooo, foreclosure crisis.  Just because you have the money or  can borrow the money does not mean that you should.

In a world where plastic credit cards are the norm, and every other commercial on television is supporting the buy now, pay later mentality, it is important to equip our children with the tools that they need to be financially successful. 

Do you remember the first time that you realized what compounding interest on credit cards really was?  I do.  It was in a college class I was taking, that had nothing at all remotely to do with economics or math.  The professor brought it up and the entire classroom looked at him with blank stares.  He then went on to explain that the $30 sweater you had to have yesterday would end up costing you fifty gazillion dollars if you only made minimum payments. 

It was a sobering experience, probably because  most of us had already bought that $30 dollar sweater yesterday, along with a few pair of jeans, a couple of dinners, and a killer pair of shoes.

I hope that by being mostly transparent with the purchases I make and the saving that my husband and I do, that my children will avoid this pitfall.  I have encouraged them to save their money for big ticket items that they would like, rather than blowing their money on many small impulse purchases.  And for large purchases like bicycles I have enacted a matching fund policy.  For every dollar that they save toward their goal, I match it with a dollar.

I came across this website today.  It is an interactive website that quizzes you on your geographical knowledge of the states.  It was more difficult than I thought it would be. 

Some states are easy and obvious… hello, Florida and Texas I am talking to you.  I know the general area of most of the states.  New England, which is difficult for many because there are so many small states, is easy for me since I have spent my entire life living in this area of the country. 

The middle of the country was more difficult.  Minnesota?  You touch Canada?  How did this fact escape me?

Next up looking for a similar website for all the countries in the world.

The day we all wait for  Punxsutawney Phil to pop out of his hole and see his shadow.  Or not.  For some reason we all care, irregardless of the fact that where I live there is at LEAST six more weeks of winter, more like ten, whether the groundhog has seen his shadow or not.

Groundhog Day was a tradition brought to the United States by German settlers.  The first official Groundhog Day was celebrated on February 2, 1886 in Punxsutawney.

If he sees his shadow, he will go back into his hole and go to sleep again and winter will last for another six weeks. If he does not see his shadow, he will stay up and winter will be over. This sort of seems counter intuitive, because wouldn’t he see his shadow and think, ‘Yea! Sunshine! Spring is here!’ But no, legend has it that he is frightened by his shadow.

Ever since the movie Groundhog Day came  out in theaters in the early 1990’s the number  of people who make the trek to Punxsutawney  in Western Pennsylvania, about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, has grown exponentially.  

This tidbit of information I found interesting:

For most of the year, Phil lives in a climate-controlled home at the Punxsutawney Library. He is taken to Gobbler’s Knob and placed in a heated burrow underneath a simulated tree stump on stage before being pulled out at 7:25 am on Groundhog Day, February 2, to make his prediction.

Really?  Somehow I thought that he just lived in his burrow and we all sat around waiting for him to make an appearance on February 2.  I had no idea Phil lived such a cushy life.  This must be why he has lived to be over 100 years old.